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Firefighter Russell Mitchell monitors a back burn during the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. Unnaturally long intervals between wildfires and years of drought primed the Sierra Nevada for the explosive conflagration chewing up the rugged landscape on the edge of Yosemite National Park, forestry experts say. The fire had ravaged 282 square miles by Tuesday, the biggest in the Sierra's recorded history and one of the largest on record in California.
/ Associated Press Photo/Jae C. Hong